warfare or something that they feared from europe, communist organizations and conflict. so that fear of class warfare is very vital to the period of the 1890s when bryan s campaigning. it turns out that the strike of 1877, for example, with the militia and federal government bringing out gatlin guns and mowing down american workers who were striking, that didn t sit well with american people. so bryan was walking this thin line trying to raise the issue but not be accused of class warfare. william jennings bryan was born in salem, illinois, and moved to nebraska as an adult where he practiced law, ran for congress, served two terms, and became the democratic presidential nomination in 1896. he moved to this home in 1902 with his wife, mary. bob, who is with the nebraska historical society, is down below. my question is, how did they use the home back in 1902 when they first moved here? it s an interesting combination of uses. the second floor right up above where you are
of the parallels from william jennings bryan s day and our day, it s just amazing. again, we re arguing soft money versus hard money. and we do see class warfare. the class warfare argument. except this time, the argument is coming from the rich against the poor as opposed to the poor against the rich. and i think the irony in my mind is just amazing. who would like to take that point? well, i think it is interesting to look back at that time, because for bryan, making the argument not only about the money supply and the silver issue, but also about the income tax and about the monopoly power that he saw all around and the corruption in politics and the trust, all of those things together, he was accused by the republicans of practicing a form of demagoguery or of class warfare, of opening the door to class warfare, even mentioning these things and bringing them up. so bryan was trying to lead, from what he saw, he was trying to lead americans to see that the class in pow
lead americans to see that the class in power was not necessarily looking out for their own interests. that was his main argument, but he had to frame it in a way that it didn t become class war pa fair. americans didn t want class warfare. they d seen a series of strikes in the last 20 years that looked an awfully lot like class warfare or something that they feared from europe, communist organizations and conflict. so that fear of class warfare is very vital to the period of the 1890s when bryan s campaigning. it turns out that the strike of 1877, for example, with the ma accompli militia and federal government bringing out gatlin guns and mowing down american workers striking, that didn t sit well with american people. so bryan was walking this thin line trying to raise the issue but not be accused of class warfare. bryan was born in salem, illinois and moved to nebraska as an adult where he practiced law, ran for congress, served two terms, and became the democratic pre
the video documentary competition is open to student grades 6 and 12. for details, go online. the house of representatives held a brief pro-forma session today in which democrats tried to get a vote on a bill to extend the payroll tax cut that passed the senate. here is that pro-forma session. [captions copyright national cable satellite corp. 2011] the clerk: the speaker s rooms, washington, d.c. december 21, 2011. i hereby appoint the honorable michael g. fitzpatrick to act as speaker pro tempore on this day. signed, john a. boehner, speaker of the house of representatives. the speaker pro tempore: the pray will be offered by the guest chaplain, reverend michael wilker, lutheran church of the reformation, washington, d.c. the chaplain: let us pray. gracious god, you give us light in the darkness. we praise you for the galaxies, stars, planets, and moon that shine in the night. we bless you for lamps and candles that ill lieu min our communities. we thank you for the fir
traditions have been scorned. our entreaties have been disregarded. we have begged and they have balked when our calamity came. we beg no more. we entreat no more. we petition no more. we brought forth confidence that we shall win. the words of william jennings bryan. we are coming to you from his home and office in the state capital of nebraska. it is commonly called fairview, because it gave you a fair view of the land. william jennings bryan and his wife moved here in 1902. we are coming to you from the first floor. his study is just below us. he did much of his writing and entertaining here in this house. we welcome our guest, a professor of history at georgetown university. he also wrote a godly hero. we re also joined by the chair of the department of history at the university of nebraska here in lincoln. thank you both for being with us. to set up this speech, the man that delivered it and the impact that it had on democratic delegates. the country was very divid